“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.”
Memory Verse: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21
When people go for counselling or speak to specialists about a certain situation or grey areas in their lives, its usually down to one thing; solution finding! Seeking counsel comes to place when there is an active problem, the expert uses strategic question drills to retrieve genuine answers from the problem owner, then uses answers to carry out a root cause analysis to get to the foundation of the problem. Having reached the root cause, then the healing process is usually commenced.
When the difficulties faced as part of living in this world becomes overwhelming, it becomes easy for us to develop a mindset that blocks people out of our lives, over time, this attitude eventually becomes the new norm. Originally the process begins with being hurt by someone, the hurt gets nurtured with no current solution, that hurt remains a burden and while solution searching, shutting everyone out is used as a temporary fix and while that may seem like the solution, it’s usually only temporary until there is a new trigger.
The desire to repay someone that has hurt us in the same coin is naturally human. “Evil for evil, eye for an eye”. The mind naturally scans for ways to retaliate, paying back the person for the pains they have caused at the time but the word of God expects Christians to deal with issues differently.
From the world’s perspective, doing what today’s scripture tells us may makes an individual feel cheated. It could even be said to have put you in a position of defeat but our point of focus should be on God and not on getting back your pound of flesh. Yes, today’s bible passage is difficult to adhere to but God will never put us in a situation where He cannot help and see us through with it. Apostle Paul’s message today is not from the perceptive of the world but of God because children of God should not to be driven by what the world will or will not think but of what God will think.
The root cause of most issue is the devil and usually his intention is to cage our mind and help us build various mindset but the earlier we realise it the quicker we will be able to renew our minds. The intention is that a believer is refilled daily with the fruit of the spirit Galatians 5:22-23 and irrespective of the level of pain being generated by the hurt, we will by the strength of God be able to focus on what truly matters, which is obeying the word of God.
If we respond to evil with evil, we become just like those being controlled by the devil himself. It means we are allowing an evil person’s behavior control what we do; it means we have allowed their bad behavior to conquer us. Ideally, we have been “overcome by evil.”
The only way to continue enjoying your happiness and peace you wish for is to build a mind that is determined to overcome the evil of others by acting better than they act.
Be determined to ignore their evil acts and refuse to let the bad actions of others make us turn bad or away from Christ.
We can choose to get angry, repay the hatred and evil back to the other person or we can choose to let God fight for us .“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.” Romans 12:19.
PRAYERS:
- Father I thank you for the power in your word which gives life and understanding to the simple hearted
- Help me from today to let go of every weight of unforgiveness and hurt, heal me O Lord
- I receive the ability and grace to repay evil with good, help me Lord to look past people’s misdeeds to me
- Help me to love my neighbor as myself and not to hurt others through my acts or omissions
- Forgive me of all my shortcomings O Lord and let your mercy prevail over judgement
- Thank you Lord for answers to prayers, in Jesus name I pray, Amen.
